Finals Thursday August 3, 2000 Orangeville Northmen vs. St. Catharines Athletics: Way back in May, Mississauga Tomahawks coach Jim Brady -- who never lets me down for a quote -- dismissed the St.Catharines Athletics as "the most overrated team in the league." In retrospect, I should have made a substantial bet on them then and there. Any surprise I might have felt at seeing my beloved Six Nations Arrows ousted by the double-blue was eradicated by the effective, overall way St. Kitts won. The Athletics prevailed -- winning three times in Ohsweken!!! -- because the Athletics were the better team. Well, hang on to your horns, Northmen fans, because I think these upstart A's are about to do it again. Goaltending: Yeah, Brandon Miller of Orangeville won the best goalie award, but the guy I want between the pipes now is St.Catharines' Matt Vinc. Have you seen this guy lately? There's the dance, there's the crossing himself, there's the little leap into the crease, there's the banging the post, there's the surging forward whenever he's under attack, there's the loose ball snagging, there's the assists. He's not unbeatable, and he's far from the total package, but he's getting better every game, and his attitude is igniting his entire team. I still think Miller can be had, but he can also come up big, and in what should be a pretty low-scoring series, any hot goalie can win any game any time. The Northmen get the edge at back-up, as Kevin Samuel is damn competent, Overall, though, I think Vinc's got a demon by the tail, and is my odds-on pick for MVP of these playoffs. Team defence: Yep, this is Orangeville's specialty, and they sure haven't given up many goals in shutting down Whitby's A.J. Shannon and Jamie Taylor of Burlington in the first two rounds. But did you happen to see the A's in game five of the Six Nations series? The Arrows, in Ohsweken, couldn't put two passes together for most of the game. The reason, SquirePowlessHenhawkHill got smothered in a heavy blanket of blue. Team defence should be the dominating factor here, and I think it's pretty close to even. That should worry the Northmen, though, because this is where they get paid. Special teams: Maybe I've just caught the Northmen on some off nights this year (the back-to-back losses to Burlington and Whitby, for example), but I don't see a great power play here. Jon Harasym seems too content to shoot from the point. Granted, it's a great shot, but it's going to take some pretty intricate passing to pick apart these Athletics on D. As for the A's, heck, everything's flying right now, special teams included. A very slight edge to the blue. Offence: Where have you gone, Peter Veltman? Okay, maybe he's being used in a different role this year. Maybe a set of vicegrips makes a good toothpick. The 2000 Northmen simply aren't detonating any scoreboards these days. Will Veltman and Harasym finally click the way we all know they can? Will Travis Gillespie be able to play with a busted jaw? Will Chad Culp and the Merrill boys team up to make Matt Vinc miserable? A better question might be: will it matter? Two words, people -- Craig Conn. Two more words -- Chris Mackie. I continue to absolutely love watching these guys play. Their styles are almost completely incompatible -- but so were Gavin Prout's and Marty O'Brien's. Conn floats, Mackie drives. Shut down one, lose the other. It's a big problem -- and we haven't even mentioned Rookie of the Year Sean Greenhalgh, Mark Steenhuis and Brampton Excelsior refugee Chris Parkin. Again, this could go either way. Coaching: I'll take Lindsay Sanderson of the Northmen over anyone else coaching in this league. For strategy, preparedness and commitment, he has no equal. The St. Catharines coaching committee has done a flat-out great job. Sanderson is just flat-out better. Intagibles: The Athletics are peaking at the perfect time, and are only just hitting cruising altitude now. The most impressive thing to me about their game five 9-6 win in Ohsweken is that they didn't have to overextend themselves to get it. They just went out and played smart, strong, physical lacrosse. I think they are on to something very special, and it ain't over yet. Overall: Yep, I'm calling the upset. That doesn't mean I don't think the Northmen are good. They're very good. But sometimes good doesn't matter. Ask the '93 Athletics, who lost to Orangeville in the final, and the '95 Athletics, who lost to Orangeville in the final. This time, the ending will be different. The St.Catharines A's -- to win -- in six games.
Semi-Finals
Orangeville Northmen vs. Whitby Warriors: This should be just a great series. Last month, the Warriors threw an almost perfect game at the Hornheads, blowing them out of the GearBox with sheer, relentless hustle and finish. If the Warriors play like that, there's no hope. But no one can play that well every night, particularly against Orangeville. This year's Warriors remind me of the Arrows, actually. They have several distinct and very different offensive threats -- Mike Morrison! A.J. Shannon! Jeff Frazer! Mike Hamilton -- who instictively mesh even when the system is broken and everyone's doing his own thing. That's tough to counter, especially since Orangeville's goaltending tandem of Brandon Miller and Kevin Samuel can be had. But on the other hand, Whitby goalie Scott Wylie is far from invincible side-to-side, and Orangeville play better and tougher system lacrosse than anyone else left standing. The sweep of Burlington proved that anything in a Northman uniform can score from just about anywhere on the floor. So this series comes down, I think, to home floor and defence. The Northmen have the odd game at home, and I also believe they are tough as nails at the back. But that hard-pressing Northman-on-man D was solved and shedded by the Arrows last year, and Whitby has just the kind of talent needed to do that again. Get ready for some brilliant tactical and improvisational lacrosse, fans. Orangeville in seven.
Quarter FinalsQuarter-Finals
Orangeville Northmen vs. Burlington Chiefs: Has it sunk in to everyone yet that Travis Gillespie of the Northmen made third-team All-American in the United States this year? Do you have any idea of the kind of monster season you have to have to put that line on your resume? And yet, Gillespie is not the front-line star of these Northmen. That should tell you how good these guys really are. Burlington, on the other hand, was probably a bit unlucky to fall as far as seventh. They feature league-leading scorer (and possible MVP) Jamie Taylor, and Marc Landriault is playing incredible lacrosse. The Chiefs seem strongly unified under head coach Ted Sawicki, but they are still far too polite on defence. If they don't start laying the lumber on Orangeville stars like Peter Veltman and John Harasym, they could get shredded. And yet, the Chiefs ran out winners in their only visit to the BunnyBarn, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they do it again. Burlington must cut down on the floor-wide passes, though, because Orangeville can punish those blunders every bit as sternly as Six Nations did when they made Burlington burgers of them, 22-8. There is a faint whiff of possible upset here, but the Hornheads should ultimately prevail. Orangeville in six.
Whitby Warriors vs. Peterborough Lakers: Whitby in four. Complain all you like, Laker fans, but walking the ball up the floor till you're five goals behind and dropping the gloves in the third period just won't cut it here. Whitby got whipped by Toronto and K-W down the stretch, but Michaels Morrison and Hamilton did not make those trips. I saw Whitby demolish Peterborough at the GearBox a few weeks back, and there's simply no way this clash of Peterborough's old-style lacrosse and Whitby's new-age run-and-gun can be good news for the Lakers. These teams seem to meet every year, and every year Peterborough finds a way to win a game or two. But the old Warriors liked to catch a nap in the first round, something I don't think their successors are going to do. Yes, Peterborough has four of the top scorers in this league, but the offence is still far too simplistic, and even individual parts like Scott Self, Scott Evans, Nicci Johnston and Dan Carey can't turn these soloists into a team. I'll say it again: Whitby in four.
Mississauga Tomahawks vs. St. Catharines Athletics: Heads or tails? Heads, the Tomahawks. Jim Brady's got incredible seasons out of Cory Leigh, Rob Kirkby, Mike Bournazakis and many, many others. Goalie Jay Preece has the fastest stick in the league. Goalie Corey Bazylewski is an immovable object who can cover the posts. This is the fastest, most intense Missy squad ever, and they're voracious on the loose balls. Tails, the Athletics. Matt Vinc has been taking Gee Nash pills all year. Just watch how fast he can turn a save into a downfloor pass. Craig Conn is a spectacular talent, but he's battled injuries all year, and who knows how long he'll stay healthy? Both teams are ravenous at this point, and this series should produce seven games of the best lacrosse anywhere in this first round. Picking a winner is almost impossible here. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if we get at least a half hour of sudden-death overtime in game seven. In the end, though, teams evolve throughout long playoff series, and I think the A's are on a tiny bit more of an upward curve than Mississauga. The battle will go on and on, and will thrill fans lucky enough to be there, but ultimately: St. Catharines in seven. I wouldn't dream to try to figure out the second round now, because I know darn well that at least two of the above predictions are going to be wrong. Watch the Lakers, Tommies, Braves and Chiefs run the table, giving Mississauga home floor for the semis and finals. Hey! It could happen!
